Brave New World
by EldritchSandwich
Summary: The second story in the series started by Change of Heart. Something strange is happening to Lyoko, and it will lead our heroes somewhere they have never been…


Sissi was late—she'd been detained by Miss Hertz after class. It wasn't her fault—Herb kept bugging her. So much for making a clean break with her old "friends." It had been a week since Sissi had learned The Secret, and as soon as she had sorted things out, she'd tried to gracefully distance herself from Herb and Nicolas, but to no avail. Sissi glanced at her watch—she was supposed to meet Jeremie and the others in the courtyard five minutes ago.

By the time she arrived, late spring heat beading on her forehead, Odd had already gone off to eat. Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi were still waiting for her. "I'm sorry," she panted, "I got held up."

Jeremie looked up from his computer, smiling cordially. "It's all right. We don't really have anything better to do. Well, _I_ don't." When Yumi and Ulrich blushed, Sissi smiled. She couldn't be with Ulrich—she understood that now—but at least he was happy.

"Actually, that's why we're meeting," Jeremie said, "because nothing's happening. More specifically, since Sissi joined, there hasn't been a single Xana attack."

Sissi furrowed her brow. "So? How often are they supposed to happen?"

"Usually every few days," suggested Yumi, squeezing Ulrich's hand, "it's pretty weird to go a whole week with no activity."

"Maybe Xana realized that he's outnumbered," Ulrich chuckled.

Jeremie closed his laptop. "I don't know...in this case, I don't necessarily think that no news is good news. It might mean he's planning something big. I'm going to go check in with Aelita."

Sissi hopped up. "I'll come with you."

"all right. Yumi, Ulrich, you go find Odd."

As Jeremie booted up his computer, Sissi flopped back onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Problem, Sissi?"

"No, it's just...I'm not sure everyone's...adjusting well. You know, to my joining the group."

"Who, you mean Yumi?"

"Oh, it's no one in particular, I just...don't really feel like I belong."

Jeremie began activating software, speeding through menus as he spoke. "Just give it time. You're probably still not used to the whole 'fate of the world' thing. It'll pass. Odd was even more of a wreck than you are when we first told him." Shifting his attention back to the monitor, Jeremie input the code to communicate with Aelita. "Aelita? Are you reading me?"

As the data traveled to her Tower in the Forest Region, Aelita perked up at the sound of Jeremie's voice. "Jeremie? I'm here."

"Have you seen anything out of the ordinary lately? Groups of monsters, pulsations, that sort of thing?"

"Not for a while. I saw a Hornet a few days ago, but it didn't seem to be doing anything in particular...just flying around."

"Where was it? Xana doesn't just deploy his monsters without a reason."

"It was near the Transfer Tower."

"all right, I'll check it out. Sissi, go find what's keeping the others."

Lifting herself from the bed, Sissi made her way to the door. "Jeremie?" He turned, expectantly. "Thanks." He smiled.

Odd felt bad about leaving the group (as bad as he couls feel when Sissi was involved), but he had more pressing matters to attend to: Naomi. Now that Ulrich and Yumi were finally together, Odd could concentrate on his own love life, and that meant getting closer to Naomi. Whether she knew it or not, she had given him an opening...

A week ago, during the attack Sissi had hepled avert, Odd and Naomi had been trapped in a fissure where the floor had given way. As Odd tried frantically to lift Naomi out of the trembling pit, a sudden tremor had knocked him back, Naomi falling prostrate across his chest. As their eyes met, the words Naomi spoke still echoed in his ears: "When this is all over, remind me to get to know you a little better." Before Odd could speak, he saw the creeping white curtain that showed his friends had succeeded.

These thoughts still sifting through his head, Odd moved through the courtyard, toward the bench where Naomi sat chatting casually with a small cadre of friends. Licking his suddenly very dry lips, Odd moved forward, clearing his throat and causing Naomi and her friends to look suddenly up. "Oh, hey Odd," Naomi said coolly. Odd visibly straightened his spine.

"Uh...hey, Naomi. Could we talk?"

"Sure, I guess," the svelte brunette turned toward her friends, "I'll be right back."

The two walked along the edge of the wooded park, Odd unsure how far to stay from Naomi. Noticing Odd's uneasy movements, Naomi spoke first. "So, Odd, what did you want to talk about?"

Odd swallowed. If there would ever be a time, this was it. "Well, I was just wondering if, you know, maybe you'd like to go out some time, like to a movie, or something." Odd cursed his timing—of all the times to lose his regular glibness.

"Oh...well, uh, I don't know, Odd," Naomi mumbled, Odd's crest falling audibly, "I mean, you're a really nice guy, but I just don't think it would be a good idea. I mean, what would people think?"

"What do you mean?" Croaked Odd, his heart caught in his throat.

"I just mean...we associate with different kinds of people, you know?"

Odd's teeth clenched. Whether she'd known it or not, she'd broken a promise to him. Brushing off Naomi's half-hearted attempts to console him, Odd turned, choking back his disappointment, running into the sadly inviting darkness of the forest.

When Sissi finally found Odd, he was buried in the shadow of a looming oak, sobbing. Sissi approached slowly, unsure of what to say—she wasn't used to seeing people cry. Before Sissi had to announce her presence, Odd looked up, pain mingling with the bitter shame that swept across his features. "What do you want?" he choked out, trying to disguise his depression as annoyance.

Sissi cleared her throat, unsure of how to proceed. "Jeremie wants to..." Finding herself unable to finish the sentence, she sat down at the trunk of the tree, as close to Odd as she dared. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'll go see Jeremie in a minute. Leave me alone."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Sissi shrugged. She'd tried. As she dusted herself off and got up to search for Yumi and Ulrich, Odd's head snapped up from his lap. "Wait." Sissi quickly returned to her seat beside Odd as he began to relate the tale of his most recent failure. As Sissi listened, she couldn't help but smile.

"Is that all? Don't you think you're overreacting a little?"

"You're new at this comforting thing, aren't you?"

"Oh, come on, Odd. I pined after Ulrich for almost two years. I tried everything I could think of, and he still ended up with Yumi. Sometimes thinks like this just aren't meant to be."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying you should either get over it or start thinking up ways to blackmail her—and I can tell you from experience that the blackmail option really doesn't work as well as you might think."

Odd smiled. For some reason, that made Sissi feel good. She'd made someone smile. Wrapping her arm around Odd's shoulder, she gently urged him up off the ground. "Come on, Jeremie wants to meet with everybody, but he says Yumi and Ulrich turned off their mobiles."

Odd, now standing under his own power, seemed to have reverted to form. "They probably just wanted some more 'alone time'."

Sissi stopped. "What do you mean by that?"

Odd smiled. "I thought you got over the Ulrich thing. Why are you so interested?"

"I'm not...I just..." Sissi stammered, her nose wrinkling in frustration.

As they walked back toward the school proper, Odd laughed uproariously. Part of Sissi wished he was still crying. That part punched Odd in the arm. Now they were both laughing. It felt good.

Ulrich enjoyed kissing Yumi. It was a taste he never counted on developing, but now that it had, it seemed so easy to become lost in each others eyes. That is, unless Odd and Sissi walked through the door at just the wrong moment. "Boy, Sissi," Odd grinned, "I'm sure glad you're over Ulrich. Otherwise this would be kind of awkward."

Ulrich yanked his hands from Yumi's waist and smiled bitterly. "Oh, don't worry, Odd, it's plenty awkward."

"Well, while you two were busy looking for dark corners, Jeremie had this wacky idea that maybe we should try to have a conversation, the five of us." At this, Sissi glared at Odd. She'd never get used to the idea of friendly insults—when she insulted someone, she meant it. Odd hadn't noticed her needled look, however, and continued ribbing his blushing friends as they plodded off toward Jeremie's room. "...I mean, is it too much to ask that when you two go off to lip-wrestle, you leave your cell phones on?"

Sissi found it amazing that, by the time they reached Jeremie's room, Odd still hadn't shut up. Meet the great actor—less than twenty minutes ago he had been crying, practically in Sissi's arms, a victim of the cruel whims of love. Now he acted as if the subject was nothing but fodder for a ceaseless array of half-hearted jokes. Shaking her head, Sissi pushed open the door to Jeremie's room. Greeted by the smilng faces of Jeremie and Aelita, the four friends took their places around the tiny dorm room.

Jeremie straightened up in his chair, clearing his throat as he brought up a digital schematic on his computer screen. "all right guys, this is a map of Lyoko. Now, Xana usually deploys his monsters only when there's an infected Tower they have to guard. But as you can see by these red marks, Xana currently has monsters deployed all over Lyoko. They don't seem very hostile, and aren't guarding anything in particular. I don't know what they're up to, but I imagine its the precursor to something really big. Since we haven't had any attacks for a while, I think it's safe to assume that Xana's storing up his energy."

Wrinkles of concern played across Yumi's face. "So you have no idea what it is he's planning?"

Jeremie shook his head. "I don't have any clues as of yet. Just keep your eyes open."

The four nodded in unison, and the students left to get ready for class. Everyone was worried. Aelita was worried most of all. She knew what was coming. What was worse, she knew she couldn't tell Jeremie or the others. Not yet. They'd only try to stop it, and that would get them killed. Frowning, Aelita let her attention drift from the computer back to the sandy landscape that would soon be changed forever.

Sissi hated math class. Odd hated math class. Ulrich hated math class. Jeremie was having the time of his life. Sissi watched, riveted as Jeremie blazed through the assigned word problems. Shaking her head in amazement, she leaned over to Ulrich. "I guess I never payed attention to him before—does he always work that fast?"

Ulrich looked up, startled, then followed Sissi's gaze. "Oh, Jeremie? That's nothing. You should see him with geometry." They chuckled until a glare from the teacher silenced them. By the time the bell rang, Sissi was almost half way through the day's assignment. Jeremie was half way through the next day's.

As Jeremie left the classroom, Sissi rushed after him. "Jeremie! Wait up!" Jeremie paused. "Have you heard anything new from Aelita?"

"No, nothing yet," returned Jeremie as he continued on toward his history class, "and I have to admit, this whole thing has me more than a little nervous."

"Well, I was thinking. What if Xana isn't going to do anything on Earth...what if his new plan is about Lyoko?"

Jeremie stopped, spinning around to face Sissi with a concerned visage. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. If I was all powerful in one world and could barely even enter another, I know which world I'd focus on."

Jeremie stopped, dark lines flashing across his face. "Oh, no, you're right! Call Odd, get to the factory. I'll call Yumi and Ulrich and meet you there."

As she ran toward the boiler room, Sissi pressed Odd's button on her speed dial. Easy enough to remember—it was the button that used to be for Nicolas. Sissi panted a warning to Odd as she began the sewer route she had made a point of memorizing. Grabbing her scooter (a recent addition) Sissi made her way to the factory as quickly as possible. If she and Jeremie were right, then something could go very wrong at any moment.

Jeremie arrived soon, Yumi in tow. He raced to the control computer, opening the interface needed to talk with Aelita. Odd and Ulrich arrived, breathless, just as the program booted. "Aelita, Aelita, are you reading me?"

Aelita's melodic voice came wafting through the control room's speakers. "I'm here, Jeremie. What's wrong?"

"I had an idea. Well, Sissi had an idea. We think that Xana's deploying monsters because he plans to take permanent control of Lyoko!"

For several moments, nothing crackled through the old speakers that lined the ceiling of the control room. Finally, Aelita's voice came across. It sounded different, however. It sounded sad. It said only two words. "I know."

As Aelita explained the recent happenings on Lyoko, her fear subsided, replaced with a crushing feeling of despair. "Several days ago, monsters started appearing randomly throughout Lyoko. At first I didn't know why, but then I travelled toward the Core—a sort of hub that houses Xana's programming. As I moved closer to the center of the islands, things seemed...darker, somehow. I ran a system check, and discovered just what you have—Xana's planning to expand his influence by force."

Yumi shook her head, concentration creasing her forehead. "I don't understand. Xana already has power over Lyoko. What could he gain?"

"I understand perfectly," Jeremie breathed, his eyes suddenly filling with understanding, "The Towers are how Xana interacts with the real world, right? So if he could find a way to activate multiple Towers at once, his influence would be magnified."

"That's right," Aelita added, "and if he could activate all the Towers at once..."

Jeremie fell back into his chair, the full importance of Xana's latest plan finally sinking in. "...he could exercise the same control here he does in Lyoko."

"What?" Odd hissed. "What does that mean exactly?"

Ulrich's eyes filled with the same urgent understanding as Jeremie's. "That means he could create monsters, influence weather, control the earth under our feet, even."

Aelita nodded. "Not only that, but once the transfer was complete, he'd be free of Lyoko forever. Then he could destroy the factory without endangering himself."

"And you along with it." Sissi added, breathlessly. Well, she thought, she'd wanted in.

Jeremie swivelled his chair around to face the monitor. "all right, everyone get to the scanner room. We have to cut him off before Xana gains control of too many Towers."

"NO!" Aelita's urgent scream pierced the stillness. "Jeremie, no, it's already too late. Xana has control of enough Towers to overwrite Lyoko's basic programming. If you go in now, he could cut off the scanner program—if you are devirtualized, there could be no going back."

"Aelita, you can't expect us to just leave you there!" Yumi shouted.

"Yes, I can. Please, turn off the supercalculator before it's too late. Otherwise both worlds will be completely under Xana's control!"

"No, Aelita. We've been through too much together. There has to be some way for us to stop Xana this time." Ulrich crowded closer to the control monitor, frank concern in his voice. "You said his program is stored in that Core—so why don't we just go there?"

Aelita's virtual head shook sadly. "No, the Core's too heavily guarded. It would be especially risky if Xana cut off the scanners after you entered."

"We've dealt with that problem before," Odd smirked. "As I recall, everything turned out fine."

Jeremie smiled. "You see, Aelita? We're not going to let you go through this alone. We're going to help you."

Sissi stepped forward. "All of us."

Aelita's eyes rose, looking out over the only five people who cared about her—five people who, if necessary, would give their lives for her. "I can't ask you to do this. Not for my sake."

Yumi smiled. "You don't have too."

Jeremie grinned, turning to face the Lyoko holomap. "all right, here's the plan..."

_in-sane': adj. From Latin insanus, unsound in mind_

_def. 4. very foolish, impractical, extravagant, etc.; senseless_

Now that Aelita had looked it up in her database, she was quite sure that the word described Jeremie's plan perfectly. Odd seemed to have similar concerns—he voiced his.

"Just wait a minute," Jeremie defended, "give me one good reason why it wouldn't work."

Ulrich shook his head, half in protest and half in disbelief. "Well, there's the fact that there are hundreds of monsters running around, and we can't risk being devirtualized."

Odd smiled. "Oh, come on. That part's easy to work around. Just don't get hit."

"That's very encouraging."

"I try."

"Enough!" Yumi shouted, cutting through the bickering and wisecracking going on around her. "It's true, this plan is risky, but like it or not, it's pretty much the only plan. We have to do this. Whether we want it or not, we have a duty to the rest of the world—and that includes Aelita."

Jeremie sighed. "Look, I can't force any of you to do this. All I can do is ask. Who's with me?" Through an agonizing silence, every hand went up—interestingly, Odd's went first. "Good. Let's get started."

"Uh...excuse me," Sissi whispered, "I just had a thought. What do we do once we reach the Core?"

"That's the easy part," Jeremie explained, "I'll upload an antivirus that will contain Xana's program within the Core. He'll still be able to activate a single Tower at a time, but nothing like this will ever happen again. Everyone know what to do?" Solemn nods swept the room. "all right, everybody get to the scanner room. Sissi, since there are only three scanners, you'll have to wait until Odd's virtualized—the router program should keep your two signals separate."

As the four fighters took the elevator down to the scanner room, Jeremie started the virtualization program. Aelita's face swept on to the screeen. "Jeremie?"

"Yes, Aelita?"

"Thank you."

Jeremie smiled. One by one, the virtual images of his friends flashed across the screen as he input the activator sequence. "Virtualization."

As the molten colors of Lyoko swept into view, Ulrich noted that Aelita was right—everything did seem darker. The desert, which should have been afire with orange sunlight, seemed gray, as if the life and color had been drained from it. Landing, catlike, on the bleached sand, Ulrich noted with satisfaction that even Sissi landed feet-first this time. "all right, Jeremie," Ulrich said to the air around him, "everyone made it through."

Jeremie's voice came into everyones' minds as if it was their own. "Good. I've set you down as close as I could to the Core without attracting attention. So far, none of the nearby monsters seem to have activated. Just keep heading due south and you should avoid any large groups."

"Check. Odd and I will take point. Yumi—protect Aelita. Sissi—watch our backs." Ulrich's cohorts nodded and silently slipped into formation as they made their way across the ailing desert.

"all right, I've loaded up twenty extra arrows for Odd and twenty more shuriken for Sissi," Jeremie whispered over the comm line, "Let's hope you don't need them."

Odd chuckled. "Speaking of which, any monsters trying to catch us off guard?"

"No, nothing y...wait, two crabs, behind you, closing fast!"

Yumi snapped her head around scanning the horizon behind Sissi. "Are you sure? I don't see anything."

Sissi flipped a shuriken out between her fingers. "I do." Sissi's arm whipped forward, and the spiraling razor-edged star met with the red shell of a crab, shattering it into dust. "Make that one crab closing fast, Jeremie."

In the excitement, the second crab was already next to Aelita. Yumi parried the first two lasers furiously, her fan setting into an easy blocking pattern as the crab continued to fire. Ulrich jumped on the monster's head, driving his sword into its target eye with a triumphant grunt. He leapt off as the creature's mangled legs skittered off into the digital sea.

"Nice work, guys," Jeremie warned, "but you're getting close to the Core. Monsters will become more and more common, I'm afraid."

"Oh, come on, Jeremie," Odd grinned, "we can handle it."

"I hope so. There are four hornets guarding the bridge in front of you."

Wordlessly, Ulrich moved closer to Aelita while the others spread out in front of them. As his sword blocked the first blast aimed at Aelita, Ulrich gave the command to fire. Soon, three of the Hornets were down in a tumult of shuriken, arrows, and steel-edged paper. The fourth swept toward Odd, catching him once in the shoulder before Ulrich sliced open its target eye and it melted worthlessly to scrap. Ulrich smiled, offering his hand to his unseated friend. "Just don't get hit, huh?"

Odd ignored Ulrich's hand and gave his friend a wry smile. "Oh...shut up."

"It's all right, Odd," Jeremie's voice offered, "you still have ninety Lifepoints. Just be careful!"

As the team rushed further south, the great looming mass of writhing cables that was the Core came into view. Suddenly, several yellow shapes moved out of the mess of wiring and data conduits. "Look out!" Yumi shouted, "Blocks!"

The first freeze ray hit Sissi, a shuriken frozen between the tips of her fingers. Taking stock of the situation, Ulrich noted that there were at least five of the monsters, though more were probably on their way. "all right, take them out quickly, we have to find an Interface Tower for Aelita!" Ulrich clipped, jumping atop one of the looming creatures and driving his blade through one of the block's faces. Yumi's fan sent one cuboid the way of its compatriot, while Odd's arrows silenced two more. Unfortunately, the last enemy had already hit Yumi, and was now turning its focus to the thawing Sissi. Ulrich's sword absorbed the laser that was meant for Sissi, and as she returned to the world, she finished her throw, the whims of chance driving the star into the last block's target.

As the group picked themselves up, tallying their precious few Lifepoints, their ears caught the sound of more mechanical legs moving toward them. "Jeremie, we need to know where that Tower is, now!" Yumi panted, running with the group away from the rapidly gaining army of blocks.

"Hold on...the closest one is forty degrees east of your current location. Just keep running!"

As they swept around the scintilating horizon of the Core, Aelita saw the Tower sticking unceremoniously out the side of the tentacled mass. "Sissi, cover her." Ulrich ordered, parrying incoming laser blasts from the now uncomfortably close blocks. Sissi ran with Aelita toward the Tower, catching lasers with her back when necessary. When they reached the horizontal Tower, Aelita, boosted on Sissi's shoulders, entered the Tower.

"all right, I just need a few minutes to input the program." Jeremie stated triumphantly.

"A few minutes?" Quipped Odd, "Which fight are you watching?"

Ulrich took out one monster before speaking. "Let's all get to the Tower. I mean, these things wouldn't shoot at the Core, right?"

Agreed, the band moved toward the Tower, Yumi and Ulrich occasionally stopping to deflect oncoming fire.

Jeremie scanned his early warning program tersely. "all right, Aelita, we need to hurry up. Xana has too much control. He's materializing a megatank near the school!" The restless chatter of keys under his fingertips, Jeremie kept up conversation with his 'field crew.' Within moments, all four were in the Tower with Aelita. "Done! The antivirus is uploaded!"

Aelita knew what to do now. Lifting herself up, she ascended to the upper level of the Tower...Jeremie watched helplessly as the newly formed megatank began to charge its laser...Aelita entered her handprint...the sea of monsters outside the Tower grew...Aelita received the Code prompt...the 'tank fired its first shot...Aelita entered the Lyoko code...Jeremie saw, on his monitor, the 'tank blast stop, mere centimeters from the wall of the school.

Grinning, Jeremie input the return coordinates. "Return to the past, now!"

"Come on, Sissi, what's wrong?" Herb whined, crowding Sissi at the lab table they shared.

"Nothing's wrong, Herb, I just...upgraded."

"Oh, yeah, to who?"

"Jeremie and his group, if you must know."

"Ha, I don't believe it. Look, Sissi, whatever I did to make you mad just tell me."

"Its nothing, you hear? I'm just hanging out with Jeremie and his group now."

"Oh yeah? Prove it."

"Hey, Sissi," Odd whispered, moving his chair from its traditional place beside Ulrich, "Can I sit here?"

"Sure, Odd." Sissi cast a triumphant glance at Herb, who settled back into his seat, shaking his head.

"Listen, Sissi," Odd continued, "about Naomi..."

"Don't worry, Odd, I won't tell anyone."

"That's not what I wanted to say."

"So what, then?"

"Thank you."

Sissi shrugged. After all, that was just the sort of thing friends did for each other.


End file.
